We thought the temper now came better controlled, or at least better dressed.

He drop-kicked a 9-iron.

We thought the Tiger "A game," golf's most terrifying weapon of our time, was imminent.

He did not beat par once in the tournament, something he had done seven of eight rounds the last two years of personal and professional struggle.

We thought the swing was sound and solid.

He had two birdies on 16 par-5s. "Atrociously" is how he played those holes he once dominated. His word.

We thought he was all set for prime time again — prime time defined as about 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Augusta. He desperately wanted it. The masses yearned for it. The CBS brass would have done cartwheels down Magnolia Lane to see it.

His last putt on No. 18 came at 3:38 p.m.

So what are we supposed to think now about Tiger Woods?

"What's frustrating is I know what to do and I just don't do it," he said after the long week was over. "I get out there, and I just don't trust it all."

Maybe he wants it too much.

"I would like to say yes is the easy answer, but I know it's not."

The man in the red shirt who won four Masters in nine years has won none in the last seven. That is not a particularly alarming dry spell. Green jackets do not grow on the dogwood trees here. But he never had a whiff of this tournament, and that might carry a more sober message.

The Great Comeback is still very much a work in progress. That's assuming the Great Comeback ever happens.

Now, there is no reason to let one mediocre week at Augusta suggest it never will. But this is a reminder of the new reality for Woods. Nothing will come as seemingly naturally as it once did. Nothing will come as quickly. The gods of the game are long past being awed, and so are his competitors.

Once, it seemed as if he had magic on speed dial. Greatness on request. Now it's labor. "More reps," he kept saying was the answer. "You're not going to play well every week. Unfortunately, it was this week for me."

Yeah, but it's the Masters. There are still demons in his game, not to mention tantrums.

The public rebuke from his show of anger? "It's just the way it is. I'm trying to compete. … I try hard. That's one thing I'm very proud of, is how hard I grind."

It might yet come, but we are back to wondering when — and, maybe a little bit, if. Golf is like an astronomy club, eyes to the sky, waiting for a famous comet to reappear.

Not yet. Not yet. That was the message Sunday as Tiger Woods left the course, the green jacket hours from a new owner.

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